Dubai : The American team BMW Oracle Racing sailed a near-flawless race yesterday against Sweden's Artemis Racing to maintain their margin at the top of the leaderboard.
Earlier in the day, James Spithill and his team were defeated by the French/German team All4One whose helmsman, Sébastien Col won the start and staved off determined American attacks, especially on the first three legs.
It was only the second loss in the series for the American team.
Except for BMW Oracle, which holds a four-and-a-half point lead on 13 points, the leaderboard at the Louis Vuitton Trophy remained tightly-packed after the second day of competition in the second round.
‘A big win'
"We got two points for that race today. It's a big win," said All4One's skipper Jochen Schümann.
"BMW Oracle Racing has been very strong so far, so I would say it's almost ‘bonus points'. We now have a realistic chance to make it to the semis, which is our goal here."
Sébastien Col said: "We achieved a really solid race. The key point was the first downwind leg, where we defended very well. We were leading at the first mark, and then we defended well with a few close jibes, which was kind of our weakness at the beginning of the event..."
